Tuesday, August 28, 2012

The
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) continue to escalate its violation
against Palestinian fishermen in Gaza waters. The IOF regularly opens
fire against fishermen, detains them, and confiscates their fishing
boats, preventing them from working.

At
approximately 7:10 am on Tuesday 28 August 2012, Israeli naval vessels
patrolling the Gaza sea opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the
coast north of the Al Waha resort- near the maritime border- northwest
of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district. According to Al Mezan’s field
investigation, the IOF ships surrounded one Palestinian fishing boat,
opened fire, and then forced two fishermen to take off their clothes and
swim towards them. The IOF arrested Kamel Deeb Al Ankah, 60, and his
son Mahmoud, 16, and took them to an unknown destination.

In a separate incident, at approximately 10:50 am on the same day, Israeli
naval vessels patrolling the Gazan sea opened fire on about 20
Palestinian fishing boats off the coast northwest of Al Waha resort—near
the maritime border—northwest of Beit Lahiya, North Gaza district.The
IOF ships then chased the Palestinian boats and forced them to sail to
land immediately. As a result of this attack, one boat belongs to Kamal
Taqwfeq Baker, 50, was partially damaged. No casualties or injuries were
reported.

The IOF practices tactics that cause more physical damages to the fishermen and their boats. In addition, Palestinian fishermen are subject to inhumane treatment when they are arrested. The
IOF forces fishermen to take off their clothes and swim to Israeli
vessels in cold water, then handcuffs and blindfolds them before
subjecting them to interrogation. When the fishermen are released their
suffering continues as they struggle to recover their boats and
belongings from impoundment in Israel.

These
escalating attacks come in the context of Israel’s maritime siege on
the Gaza Strip, which prevents Palestinian fishermen from working, even
within the Israeli-imposed “fishing zone” of three nautical miles.

The Israeli authorities are thus seeking to entrench the maritime siege. The
IOF deliberately opens fire on and around Palestinian fishermen and
damages their boats and engines, preventing them from working, even when
the fishermen are within the Israeli-imposed “fishing zone.” According
to Al Mezan’s documentation, in August the IOF carried out 11 attacks on
fishermen in Gaza waters.

Therefore,
Al Mezan reiterates its previous call on the international community to
promptly intervene to uphold its moral obligations and its commitments
under international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention
Relative to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War, and to ensure
respect for the principles of IHL at all times. It
also calls on the international community to take all necessary
measures to end Israel’s gross violations of human rights, to bring the
perpetrators to justice, and to take immediate steps to lift the illegal
siege imposed on Gaza, including by ensuring freedom to work for
Palestinian fishermen.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

This film, produced by the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in Palestine, looks at the impact of Israeli siege on Palestinian fishers and farmers in Gaza, and the fishers' and farmers' steadfastness and resistance on their land and the Gaza sea.

Join us on September 30 to stand in solidarity with both the farmers
and fishers of Palestine as they work to defend their land and sea from
occupation and continue their harvest and their livelihoods. Many people
in Gaza have always relied on the land and the sea for their
livelihood. Generations of Palestinian fishers have worked the sea, and
farmers harvested the land, to support their communities and their
lives. Today, the fishers and farmers of Gaza are under attack. The
Union of Agricultural Work Committees in Palestine has called for
international action and solidarity to support fishers and farmers under
siege.
Gaza, Palestine lies along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Gaza
has been under Israeli occupation since 1967, and under a tight and
brutal siege since 2006, denying people and goods access and movement
from the small coastal strip, one of the most densely populated areas in
the world. Over 70% of the people of Gaza are refugees who have lived
in Gaza since the 1948 Nakba – the occupation and ethnic cleansing of
most of Palestine.

Gaza’s Fishers: Today, over 70,000 Palestinians in
Gaza rely on the sea and the fishing industry for their income and their
lives. However, the sea in Gaza and the fishers of Gaza are bearing
the brunt of one of the most severe aspects of Israel’s siege on Gaza.
Israeli warships constantly patrol Gaza’s shores and have unilaterally
declared fishing prohibited outside 3 nautical miles. Tens of millions
of dollars of income have been lost and fishers families forced into
unemployment and poverty. Fishers who venture to the 3 nautical mile
“border” are regularly shot at, their boats seized or damaged, and
subject to arrest, detention and imprisonment. In 2012, there have
already been hundreds of attacks on fishing boats by Israeli warships.
(See video of Gaza fishers under attack: http://www.vancouver2gaza.org/2012/07/29/video-gazas-fishers-under-israeli-assault/)

Gaza’s Farmers: Gaza’s farmers are also subject to
an ongoing war against their lives, livelihood and land. Israel has
unilaterally declared the northern and eastern edges of the Gaza Strip
to be “buffer zones” or “no go zones”, often in some of the most
agriculturally proficient areas of the often-dry region, on land farmed
by Palestinian families for generations. Anyone who ventures into these
areas regularly faces threats to their lives from soldiers, snipers,
tanks, helicopters and drones that routinely patrol the area. The
“buffer zone” includes 17% of Gaza’s total land mass – but 35% of its
agricultural land and 113,000 people. 305 water wells, 197 chicken
farms, 377 sheep farms, and over 1000 homes have been destroyed by
Israeli occupation military inside the “buffer zone.” (See video of Gaza
farmers and fishers resisting occupation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RMAJi9OPiU)

While Palestinian fishers and farmers are braving gunfire to work
their land and sea, the Canadian government of Stephen Harper has
nothing but praise for the Israeli state that enforces this siege on
Gaza. On March 29, 2006, Canada became the first country in the world to
impose a siege on the Palestinian people living in Gaza and the West
Bank, declaring cancellation of aid to Palestine. Foreign Minister John
Baird recently described Canada as “Israel’s best friend.”
Of course, Israel is not alone in denying indigenous people the right
to fish and farm their land – like Israel, Canada was founded upon the
theft of indigenous people’s land, a settler colonial reality of
genocide and oppression that continues to the present day. Indigenous
nations are engaged in constant struggles to defend their fishing rights
against attempts to deny their right to fish their own waters
commercially, as well as to defend their traditional territories from
pipelines and resource extraction.
Join us on September 30 to demand an end to the siege on Gaza’s
fishers and farmers, and to demand that the Canadian government end its
extensive political, diplomatic and legal support for Israeli apartheid
and occupation – and to show the farmers and fishers of Gaza that their
struggle echoes around the world.
Initial endorsers include: Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign,
Independent Jewish Voices, Gaza’s Ark, Union of Agricultural Work
Committees (Palestine)